Blue Reassurance
by Nyoom-Stories
Summary: (Wreck-It-Ralph alternate scene) Sonic stands up to the Nicelanders after they've chased Ralph away.


Ralph gave a loud huff as he left the apartment building, muttering phrases that probably weren't meant to be known in his code.

 _I'm not the bad guy,_ he thought. _They're the bad ones…_

He thought it again as if to convince himself.

* * *

Sonic glanced around the room, still confused from the whole situation and taking time to process it. Felix, after fixing the accidental mess Ralph made, including the cake, slowly seemed to get back into the groove again as the Nicelanders started the party back up. Suddenly, everything was booming again; one-track minds, Sonic guessed.

However, he quite honestly wasn't in the mood for a party anymore. He moved the cuff on his wrist slightly to reveal a watch in order to check the time, then sped his way through the crowd with slightly less care than usual. He grabbed two slices of cake, taking a cautious look around, then headed for the door.

"Leaving so soon, Sonic? You're usually such a party animal!" he heard one of the Nicelanders joke.

Sonic stiffened, mentally rolling his eyes, then turned and raised a brow.

"Yeah, but this 'party animal' has to speed on out to check on your bud Ralph."

Everyone who heard him either laughed or let out a gasp, a mix of "Are you serious? Ralph isn't our 'bud'!" and "Are you crazy!? Why would you wanna do that?"

He tried to keep his cool, having a reputation due to being one of Felix's friends and not wanting to make a scene for the same reason.

"Yeah, I'm serious, and I don't see why I wouldn't wanna at least talk to him," he stated, plain as day.

"Because he's the bad guy!" someone said.

"Just let him wallow a bit and try to get his 'precious' medal. He'll give up and be back in the next hour," another told him

"You don't think he can do it?" Sonic questioned. He looked around at the expressions he was being given. "… _None_ of you think he can do it!?" He gasped, shocked.

"Well, why would we? All Ralph's good for is breaking down our apartment. I don't think there's a—"

"Who says?" Sonic shot back.

"E-excuse me?"

"Who says that's all he's good at is breaking stuff?"

"Breaking down our apartment specifica—" The Nicelander quickly shut up and got back to the point as Sonic stepped towards her. "I-I mean, well.."

"Have you ever gotten to know the guy?" Sonic said.

"…No, but what would the need be?" she asked. "He's just the bad guy. It's in his code."

All right. Screw reputation, and screw not wanting to make a scene. Sonic grunted, tossing the cake he was carrying onto his head to free up his hands, which he threw outwards in frustration.

"Do you think it was in Turbo's code to go nuts and try to take over the arcade!? Do you think it's in our programming to party when someone's game hits their anniversary!?" Before anyone could say anything, Sonic continued. "No, it's not! Know why? Because coding's just what we do in our games! There aren't any rules behind 'em, and it doesn't tell us who we've gotta be all the time!"

One (very stupid) Nicelander spoke up. "B-but Ralph's the—" Sonic's glare grew icy, and the Nicelander let out a meek "b-bad guy…"

"First, this whole thing was an accident anyway, and second, so what? If anything, I'm _glad_ he's going against it! Good on him for advancin' past what his code tells him to do! It's better than _you guys,_ who are so one dimensional I'd swear that I could see though ya!"

The Nicelanders let out an audible gasp of horror at the insult, getting Felix's attention. He walked over to the scene from the dance floor, looking around timidly with a bit of concern.

"I-is everything okay here, Sonic?" he asked warily.

Sonic frowned, cooling back down and taking the cake back into his hands. "Yeah, it's a'ight." He tried to sound humorous to reassure Felix, but knew it did little. "…Sorry, 'Lix, but I gotta leave early. Catch ya later."

He sped off without another word, leaving those who heard the commotion unsure of what to do.

* * *

"I'll show 'em. I'll show 'em all! I'll get my medal and then I'll get so much praise and everyone'll respect me for the good guy I can be!" Ralph mumbled, though trying to collect himself and failing miserably.

"Yo! It's Ralph, right?"

The hulking male jerked up, surprised at being addressed in a tone that wasn't hostile, then turned, seeing Sonic standing there.

"Oh." His face fell slightly; great, one of the goodest of good guys. Maybe it just 'isn't in his code' to sound mean. "What do you want? I kinda gotta—" His voice trailed off as Sonic held out one of the slices of cake.

"Shouldn't travel on an empty stomach," he said with a small smile.

Mouth still slightly agape, Ralph made his way over to Sonic. "…What's… _this?_ "

Sonic smirked, glancing at the cake. "Vanilla with strawberry icing, I think." He looked back up at Ralph. "…Oh! You mean why I'm here and stuff, heh~"

He held the cake out a bit more insistently, and Ralph hesitated before taking it in his hands, gazing down almost in wonderment at this food he'd never tried.

Sonic watched happily as Ralph started to dig in, seeing his face light up at the flavors he never experienced.

"Like it?" the hedgehog asked, though Ralph's mouth was too full to respond. He chuckled, then stared back at the apartment, his smile fading.

"…I don't know what it's like, but you remind me a lot of a friend I have."

"Mmph, Ei doof?" Ralph slurred, mouth half full.

"Yeah. You probably caught him at that bad guy meeting thing if you've ever gone. Eggman?"

Ralph nearly coughed up his cake. "W-wait, seriously? But…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Sonic said with a dismissive wave of his hand, not wanting to deal with _that_ again. "I guess it sounds weird where you're from… and it's a little weird where I'm from too, but who says that we can't be friends once the arcade closes, huh?" He shrugged casually. "Yeah, it might sound a little funny to be friends with someone whose game-goal is to kill ya, but that's all it is; a game-goal. Once the arcade closes, we're all whoever we feel like we are… whoever we wanna be."

"Whoever we wanna be…" Ralph repeated silently.

"And, you know… my in-game friends don't treat him right at all, tellin' him that he's the bad guy and he shouldn't be hangin' out with good guys like me." He gave a proud grin. "But who cares, right? He's my best friend and I wouldn't give him up even if it meant getting my game unplugged."

"But it doesn't…?" Ralph asked.

" _Now_ you're getting it!" Sonic exclaimed with a smile. "It's not the code; it's what's created underneath it that matters."

Ralph stood silently, absorbing everything that was said. Sonic walked close to him, staring him right in the face.

"…I think you should go get that medal."

He got the reaction he expected: surprise. "W-what? You actually think I can do it?"

Sonic nodded without hesitation. "I _know_ you can, but don't do it just to prove it to those guys." He went closer, patting as close to Ralph's heart as he could. "Do it to prove it to _you._ Showing everyone else how cool you are's just a bonus."

Ralph giggled almost sheepishly at the little speech. "You actually think I'm cool?" he asked, rather disbelievingly.

"Hey, anyone who's not afraid to advance past their programming's cool in my book… unless they go turbo, a'course," Sonic told him.

Ralph managed a chuckle. "Of course."

Sonic smiled. "And it's not every day y'get to celebrate your 30th anniversary, so make it a good one."

He'd almost forgotten that it was like his anniversary too, despite what had happened just a few minutes ago; it certainly didn't feel like it then, but it did now, or at least more so. "I will. Thanks."

He then pointed at the remaining slice of cake in Sonic's hand. "Mind if I take that for the road? Don't know if I might need it."

"Sorry… this one's for a friend," Sonic replied with a wink.

Ralph paused for a moment, then smiled and walked away from the hedgehog, feeling more vigor and motivation welling up inside of him as he found himself even more determined to get his medal.

Sonic watched him leave, smiling softly to himself. In another universe, he might not have made it in time to talk to him, but he was more than glad that he did.


End file.
